NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9653
SPONSOR: Walker TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to harassing certain employ-
ees of a transit agency or authority
PURPOSE OF BILL:
This bill will increase the safety of MTA employees by creating the new
crime of aggravated harassment in the second degree.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill would add a new subdivision 3-a to Section 240
30 of the Penal Law to provide that a person is guilty of aggravated
harassment in the second degree when they subject various transit
employees, such as bus drivers, to physical contact, including spitting
on them. It would be a class A misdemeanor.
Section two of the bill would provide that the act takes effect 90 days
after it becomes law.
EXISTING LAW:
The criminal conduct addressed by this bill is subject to lesser penal-
ties under the existing Penal Law.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is a new bill.
JUSTIFICATION:
Increasing the penalty for subjecting transit employees to physical
contact is intended to reduce these deplorable attacks including spit-
ting on bus drivers and other transit employees by imposing a more seri-
ous punishment. It would add a new subdivision (3-a) to Section 240 30
of the Penal Law to provide that the act of harassment, including spit-
ting, committed against certain transit employees shall constitute the
crime of aggravated harassment in the second degree, a class A misdemea-
nor, punishable by imprisonment up to one year.
Currently, spitting on a transit employee is prosecuted under Penal Law
240.26, harassment in the second degree, which is a violation, punisha-
ble by imprisonment up to only 15 days. And, since a violation is not a
crime, Those convictions are sealed, so that the police do not know if
an offender has previously been convicted of spitting on transit employ-
ees. The specified transit employees in this bill are the same as those
listed in Penal Law 120.05 (assault in the second degree), which like-
wise imposes a greater penalty for assaulting certain transit employees.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Section two of this bill states that this act shall take effect 90 days
after the date on which it shall have become law.
